quote:As a DBA I expect all submitted code to be commented.The comments should detail up front which tables are going to be used, what variables if any are declared and what they are supposed to be etc.

========================He was not wholly unware of the potential lack of insignificance.

I have a suitable carrot (the keys to the bosses drinks cabinet and the ability to sign expense forms).

I have a suitable stick (I contribute to their appraisals).

I practice what I preach.

Our projects come back to haunt us and when they haunt the person performing the exorcism may not necessarily be the person who originally wrote the code.

I stress that the projects that come back to haunt do so, not because of poor quality, but because we deal with government projects and tend to get repeat business requiring reworking due to fundamental changes in requirements.

========================He was not wholly unware of the potential lack of insignificance.

They say that eskimos have thousands of names for snow, the British have millions that can be used as insults.

Bodily parts can be used as insults and tit is one of the milder ones. Given the nature of the bodily part its can even be regarded as an affectionate insult.

British insults range from "affectionate greeting" to genuine full-blooded "I'd like to do unto you what God did unto the Sodomites"!

People's names can also be used in a derogatory sense. For example the phrase "doing a Mandy" refers to a scam in the property trade that was carried out by one of our politicians (Peter Mandleson) where you sell a £300,000 house for £250,000 (thereby falling into a lower tax threshold) but charge £50,000 for fixtures and fittings.

In fact the British have turned insulting people into such an art form that the mere sending of a Christmas card can be deemed to be a gross insult (according to one of our more useless politicians).

If you have ever read "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" there is a character in it who had immortality thrust upon him. Unable to cope with the shock of finding himself imortal he decided to devote his time to insulting each an every being in the universe personally. I'd like to think of him as British.

========================He was not wholly unware of the potential lack of insignificance.

The robot was Marvin the paranoid android but I'm thinking of a character in a later book in the series but can't think of his name.

There is a message for all computer programmers in this book when the computer, "Deep Thought" finally gives his answer to life the universe and everything but says that the programmers should have specified the ultimate question first! If that doesn't sum up user requirements then I don't know what does.

I particularly liked God's last message to his creation "We apologise for the inconvenience".

In addition to your warm beer and black-pudding I think you should add haggis and bagpipes (I know we didn't invent bagpipes but we do persist in playing them).

========================He was not wholly unware of the potential lack of insignificance.